Web Links
Use of the Internet
In terms of the Internet, the subject of economics is very lucky to have numerous sites that are useful to an A level student and beyond. What follows is a list of the particularly useful ones, but it is by no means exhaustive.
Website description details
www.hm-treasury.gov.uk: Her Majesty’s Treasury
Contains various forecasts, data, news and reports, including information on all budgets since 1994. It also has ministerial profiles for those taking politics. The ‘pocket data bank’ is particularly good for up-to-date statistics on just about anything you will need.
www.guardian.co.uk: The website of the Guardian
Whilst based on the day’s Guardian, it also looks at some of the more important news items in more depth.
www.ft.com: The website of the Financial Times Covers all of the articles from the day’s Financial Times. It also has lots of useful data, surveys and in-depth analysis of important issues.
www.tutor2u.net: Geoff Riley’s exceptional website
Aimed specifically at A level economics students, the site has just about everything! Extensive data, discussion forums, revision pieces, ‘ask the tutor’, essay plans, a chartroom, web reviews and quizzes! Highly recommended!
www.iod.co.uk: The Institute of Directors
Designed for Directors of businesses, this site is not so useful for the economist, but it does have some good news items and policy documents.
www.oef.co.uk: Oxford Economic Forecasting
Obviously there are forecasts on this site, but there are also some publications worth looking at and some of the forecasting models that they use are also available.
www.newsnow.co.uk: NewsNow
As the title suggests, this website is devoted to giving the user the most up-to-date news in all areas. It is updated every 5 minutes. You can also search recent editions of Loot and find a bargain.
www.nasdaq.co.uk: Nasdaq
A site devoted to the Stock Market, both in the UK and globally. It contains up-to-date news of all markets and also has some company news.
www.bloomberg.com: Bloomberg
Another site concerned with Stock Markets and is also global, but also looks at more general financial news and includes commentary on the key events.
www.timesonline.co.uk: The website of the Times and the Sunday Times.
Covers all articles from the day’s Times and most recent edition of the Sunday Times, but one can also search previous editions with the help of a search engine.
www.fool.co.uk: The Motley Fool UK
A more light-hearted look at business and, in particular, everything that the DIY investor needs! It gives the latest news on shares with analysis, looking at certain areas which may be worth considering. It also covers many areas that would come under ‘personal finance’.
www.statistics.gov.uk: The Office for National Statistics
This is the government’s statistical service, formerly known as the Central Statistical Office. As one would expect, there is a lot of data on this site! Much of it is not economic in the strictest sense. There are many social statistics derived from the Census, for example.
www.worldgameofeconomics.com: The World Game of Economics
This site contains a ‘game’ where each player is in charge of a country and has to run its economy as well as possible. The objectives are low inflation, steady growth, low unemployment, etc., and one can use monetary and fiscal policies to try and achieve these goals.
www.bankofengland.co.uk: The Bank of England
A useful site that contains information on monetary policy, including the minutes of the meetings of the MPC, various data and other publications, the Quarterly Inflation Report being the most famous (definitely worth looking at).
www.imf.org: The International Monetary Fund
A little obscure for A-level economists, but there is some useful information associated with the Fund and its operations across the globe. There is also some international data and worthwhile publications. This will be useful next year for the A2 course.
www.iea.org.uk: The Institute of Economic Affairs
This is an organisation committed to free market economics which is reflected in its publications that can be ordered over the net. It also organises lectures, details of which are on this site.
www.nber.org: The National Bureau of Economic Research
An organisation that is ‘dedicated to promoting a greater understanding of how the economy works.’ Again there are lots of publications on specific topics for the more advanced student of economics.
www.oecd.org: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Similar to the IMF site in its global nature. It therefore has a lot of useful international data. It also has many publications, some for free and some that you can order.
www.bized.ac.uk: Biz/ed This is another excellent resource for economics students.
Like tutor2u, it has revision notes, pages for study skills and data. It also has a section written by examiners to give lots of useful exam technique tips.